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Bush administration

The major domestic initiative of Bush’s second term was his proposal to replace Social Security (the country’s system of government-managed retirement insurance) with private retirement savings accounts. The measure attracted little support, however, mainly because it would have required significant cuts…

commentary

In the United States, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are now fully established government responsibilities. Although the provision of health care is far from adequate—too many of the elderly poor fail to receive needed medical attention or are dependent on charitable help—it is nonetheless widely accepted that there is…

comparison with other systems

…is restricted to the federal social insurance system (OASDI) as distinct from state benefits and “welfare,” which in Europe would be called social assistance. In some countries (for example, Denmark and the United Kingdom) the reduction of poverty historically has been a central aim of social security policy, and the…

debt-ceiling negotiations in 2011

…cuts, changes to Medicare and Social Security, and tax reform. Increases in tax revenue were pivotal to the “balanced approach” advocated by the president, who wanted the burden of deficit reduction to be shared by everyone, including the wealthiest Americans who had benefited from the Bush-era tax cuts. The deal…

establishment by Social Security Act

…employer and employee contributions; the system was later extended to include dependents, the disabled, and other groups. Responding to the economic impact of the Great Depression, five million old people in the early 1930s joined nationwide Townsend clubs, promoted by Francis E. Townsend to support his program demanding a $200…